Well a f1 car has yet again gone around the infamous track, a real gphas not been stradged there since jackie stewart had crashed some many years ago but the sauber team and Nick Heidfeld went to test how the car would react around the infamous track here are somepics.

An F1 car had not lapped the infamous Nurburgring Norschleife since 1976, when Niki Lauda was nearly killed there
http://i19.tinypic.com/4uxxv6w.jpg

Thousands of fans turned out to watch the event, staged by the BMW Sauber F1 team and their driver Nick Heidfeld
http://i16.tinypic.com/62e2jrl.jpg

Located in Germany's Eifel mountains, the Nordschleife is 14 miles long and has more than 170 corners
http://i16.tinypic.com/52bi00l.jpg

The Nordschleife is regarded as the most demanding racing circuit ever built - it is too dangerous to host a modern GP
http://i11.tinypic.com/6cgntog.jpg

Jackie Stewart dubbed the Nordschleife the "Green Hell" and Heidfeld admitted he was "really shaken up" by two sections
http://i16.tinypic.com/5xowc4l.jpg

The modern F1 car was too low to take the racing line at the famous banked Karussel hairpin
http://i13.tinypic.com/4v54ls7.jpg

From the air, Karussel is like an island in a sea of green - on the track it comes after a demanding flat-out stretch
http://i12.tinypic.com/4qpui4z.jpg

How long did the lap take?
Did he almost crash or mess up?

i don'tknow how long the lap took but i know he didn't crash but he didn't like two particularparts of teh track i'm not sure what parts they were

Dude that must have been sooo scary! Geting loose in a F1 car at the Ring, I bet he saw his life flash before his eyes!:eek:

How long did the lap take?
Did he almost crash or mess up?

His best time was 8:34 according to Autoblog, and he didn't crash because he wasn't really attempting to push himself or the car. The whole thing was more of a publicity opportunity.

Here is a link to the Autoblog page: http://www.autoblog.com/2007/04/29/nick-heidfeld-tackles-the-nordschleife-in-a-bmw-f1-06/

There is also a 7-8 minute video from Google.

repost, this was done a few days ago, thanks pix tho

repost, this was done a few days ago, thanks pix tho

Yes mate. In that thread there's a video on youtube

8:34? Man, the M5 laps the Nürburgring in 8:08. I'd expect it would beat eight tons of crap out of most passenger cars, even if he wasn't pushing it.

8:34? Man, the M5 laps the Nürburgring in 8:08. I'd expect it would beat eight tons of crap out of most passenger cars, even if he wasn't pushing it.

me too :-k

Jackie Stewart didn't crash here, Niki Lauda did, in 1976, which nearly killed hi, shouldn't you have noticed from your copying and pasting?

8:34? Man, the M5 laps the Nürburgring in 8:08. I'd expect it would beat eight tons of crap out of most passenger cars, even if he wasn't pushing it.

But didnt the F1 race on the "old" track.... something like that?

wow 8:34 is a really crappy time for an F1 car. I guess he had to really slow down on some parts because the car is so low and there's a lot of hills and sharp turns on that course.

wow 8:34 is a really crappy time for an F1 car. I guess he had to really slow down on some parts because the car is so low and there's a lot of hills and sharp turns on that course.

Plus he had demo tyres, and a redicukous ride height, and wasn't pushing at all, and slowing for photo spots and chase car video :)

hmm...neat, I think that it's about time they bring F1 back to Nordschleife.

Like i said in the original thread, it's disappointing, i expected it to lap in the 6:00 mark but instead it did an 8:34! Thats what you call slow!

And besides, even if there was an increased ride height, it still looks pretty low according to the pics and the demo tyres looks like normal dry weather tyres except with more grooves. I just wish Nick took it seriously and pushed hard, now that would be great!

^^ he wouldn't of pushed hard. He still has a career you know. He wouldnt endanger himself when he has a race in spain in a few weeks. But damn that is slow.

FOR EVERYONE WHO SAYS THAT THE TIME WAS CRAPILY SLOW, IT WAS A FRIGGIN' DEMONSTRATION RUN, AND WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE AN OUTRIGHT LAP FOR ULTIMATE PACE.

Given:

- The track is as scary as hell
- Nick hadn't driven on the 'Ring before this
- He was using LAST YEAR'S car
- He was using demonstration-spec tyres
- He had a ridiculously (relative) high ride height
- He wasn't pushing AT ALL
- He was slowing down for photo spots
- He was slowing down for chase car shots
- The whole event was a massive PR stunt

HOW FAST DO YOU THINK HE WOULD GO?

^Thank you.

And for whoever said that the ride height looked low, maximum ride height on an F1 car is still a lot lower than any road going car.

Mmm..So slow was the lap..But nevertheless Nicky wouldn't put his life in danger because he has to follow his career..I shocked when he said that he was scared in two sections..I am scared to..What a difficult track..FOR EVERYONE...

Hell I will be scared in my car around the Ring and mine only does 85mph tops !! Fairplay to Heildfield for doing that but at the end of the day it was a PR Stunt as Timbit said !!

I would have loved to be there just to see a F1 car around the ring !!

Hmm...i wonder how many barriers would be added if F1 would be back at the ring. ALOT i say.

Given:

- The track is as scary as hell
- Nick hadn't driven on the 'Ring before this
- He was using LAST YEAR'S car
- He was using demonstration-spec tyres
- He had a ridiculously (relative) high ride height
- He wasn't pushing AT ALL
- He was slowing down for photo spots
- He was slowing down for chase car shots
- The whole event was a massive PR stunt



ahh yes, that explains the time.

Given:

- The track is as scary as hell
- Nick hadn't driven on the 'Ring before this
- He was using LAST YEAR'S car
- He was using demonstration-spec tyres
- He had a ridiculously (relative) high ride height
- He wasn't pushing AT ALL
- He was slowing down for photo spots
- He was slowing down for chase car shots
- The whole event was a massive PR stunt

HOW FAST DO YOU THINK HE WOULD GO?

That bits not true, he has driven the ring before. Lasy year, he drove evo magazines road testers around the ring in an M5 ring taxi. [-X

FOR EVERYONE WHO SAYS THAT THE TIME WAS CRAPILY SLOW, IT WAS A FRIGGIN' DEMONSTRATION RUN, AND WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE AN OUTRIGHT LAP FOR ULTIMATE PACE.

Given:

- The track is as scary as hell
- Nick hadn't driven on the 'Ring before this
- He was using LAST YEAR'S car
- He was using demonstration-spec tyres
- He had a ridiculously (relative) high ride height
- He wasn't pushing AT ALL
- He was slowing down for photo spots
- He was slowing down for chase car shots
- The whole event was a massive PR stunt

HOW FAST DO YOU THINK HE WOULD GO?

i know all that, but it is still a crap time, that changes nothing :p. it's a shame that they couldn't go all-out, though :-k

Niki Lauda practiced(qualified?) on the full (north + pre-sanitized/stadium/south) course in 1976 at 6:58; the fastest full-length lap time ever.

5 years earlier; Dan Gurney bet $100,000 USD that his turbo-Offenhauser powered Eagle could lap the Ring faster than any F1 car. There was lots of Europress noise; but no takers.

FOR EVERYONE WHO SAYS THAT THE TIME WAS CRAPILY SLOW, IT WAS A FRIGGIN' DEMONSTRATION RUN, AND WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE AN OUTRIGHT LAP FOR ULTIMATE PACE.

Given:

- The track is as scary as hell
- Nick hadn't driven on the 'Ring before this
- He was using LAST YEAR'S car
- He was using demonstration-spec tyres
- He had a ridiculously (relative) high ride height
- He wasn't pushing AT ALL
- He was slowing down for photo spots
- He was slowing down for chase car shots
- The whole event was a massive PR stunt

HOW FAST DO YOU THINK HE WOULD GO?

Alright, thanks for clearing that up, i never knew some of the points you made. Especially how he had to show down for the chase car and photo shots, that would have affected his time heavily...

1 driver/week dies at Nurburgring in public sessions.

In this modern, liberal world where people have to be "protected" for their own good; there is no way that a major professional racing series will race the Nordschlife, where death for the driver (+many spectators) is only 20 feet/6.6M away from the black stuff.

Not gonna happen!

1 driver/week dies at Nurburgring in public sessions.

In this modern, liberal world where people have to be "protected" for their own good; there is no way that a major professional racing series will race the Nordschlife, where death for the driver (+many spectators) is only 20 feet/6.6M away from the black stuff.

Not gonna happen!
Wow that's a really bad statistic, and I agree that F1 will not return to the mighty 'Ring in the near future. Also of course Nick Heidfeld was not going to put down "a proper time" as Timbit said it was just a PR stunt from Sauber, and a well constructed one at that, now we are even talking about it.